


Exit Stage Left

by BlunderGod (PompousPickle)



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Cute and sad things, F/M, Johnny "Father of the Year" Cage, Pre-MKX, Sonya "World's Okayest Mom" Blade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 06:37:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4469060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/BlunderGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny wouldn't miss Cassie's first school play for the life of him. He only wished everyone thought like he did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exit Stage Left

Johnny ran backstage as soon as the curtain fell. He signaled for the film crew to pack up and leave; they would be back the next night. And the next two nights after that, until Westlake Academy made its final curtain call. Some members of the crew may have rolled their eyes, but they would have followed Johnny anywhere regardless. Even if it was to a middle school production of Peter Pan.

He burst through the backstage door as though it were his own trailer, wearing a suit that cost more than the entire school and a smile that made him twice that amount when on camera. “Where’s my little super-star?”

“Dad!” Cassandra Cage ran towards her father, still half in her costume. Her elf ears were falling off and she had pulled a large t-shirt over her green leotard. But she still looked as beautiful as she did on stage. Johnny could barely contain his pride, ready to gloat about how _no one_ could take their eyes off her.

Only, as Cassie approached him, she was not smiling. She pried his arms off as soon as Johnny pulled her into a bear hug. She stepped backwards to get a good look at him. “Why are you here? You need to go help mom. Mrs. Dayton is taking us out for pizza. I’ll be fine alone.”

Johnny paused for a moment, heart-pounding and breath caught in his throat. Had something happened that he wasn’t aware of? “What…what are you talking about, Pumpkin?”

“Mom,” she replied matter-of-factly, as though that explained everything. “She’s not here, right?”

Johnny stood up straight, slowly putting the pieces together. But he didn’t say anything. He only took off his sunglasses and put them in his suit pocket, looking down at his daughter with a small smile.

“So what is it, then?” Cassie then said, still every bit as panicked as she was before. “An Outworld Invasion? News from the Netherrealm? Another godlike artifact? There has to be _something_.”

There was nothing. Johnny knew there was nothing. He would have been among the first to know. Sonya was working, of course. But on nothing more than organizing a few missions for lower-rank teams. It was a big day for paperwork, she reminded Johnny, hours before the show. Cassie was still doing last minute rehearsals, and he was working with the crew to assure the camera-rigging was secure.

“Mom can handle this mission alone,” he said. “She has a good crew that has her back.”

“And she has you and me,” Cassie then added with an affirmative nod.

“Exactly. Even if we’re not on the field with her, we’re still supporting her.” Johnny grabbed for his daughter again, this time hoisting her up into his arms. And this time, Cassie let him. “And even if she’s not here tonight, she’s still supporting you.”

“Well yeah,” Cassie said, as though this were the dumbest thing to say in the world. “Plus there are three more shows.” She nodded again, with all the confidence of an eleven year old girl who knew everything in the world. And she knew her mother would be there the next night.

“You are not wrong,” Johnny said with a smile. “Now, you said something about free pizza?”

Cassie wiggled in his arms, demanding to be let down. “Not a little kid anymore,” she mumbled, before her father set her back on the ground. “But yeah! I’m sure Miss Dayton will let you come along!” She glanced back at the woman, the mother of the girl who played Tiger Lilly.

She nodded with a smile, that turned slightly into a wince as soon as she saw Johnny grin and put his sunglasses back on. “Then how can I say no!” He clapped his hands and straightened out his suit jacket. He projected his voice to the rest of the cast and crew backstage. “Now who wants to go get pizza with Johnny Cage?”

Several of the children started cheering, and several of the adults let out a small groan. But Johnny didn’t care, really. The only thing he could focus on was his daughter, now running off to fully change out of her costume. She looked back at him, looking at her father with the kind of smile that put all the stage lights to shame. Her eyes brightened with the same kind of light that he used to see in her mother’s eyes. Johnny could already tell that she was going to grow up a spitting image of Sonya Blade.

The man sighed, pulling out his phone, expecting at least a missed call from his wife. There was nothing, save for a text message from Kenshi asking how the first show went. He sighed, stuffing the phone back in his pocket and looking back at the girl, now pulling on her pants and laughing with one of her friends.

“Wish you were here to see this, Sonya,” he mumbled to himself, quick to put a smile back on his face by the time his daughter glanced back at him. 


End file.
